Thanks to Zimbio

Brothers Keepers; Speed Kills

Later this evening, the Flyers lineup should have been witness to something that hadn’t happened in more than a generation. If brothers Luke and Brayden Schenn stepped onto the ice and into the lineup for the Orange and Black’s preseason contest against Chicago at the big building on South Broad Street, it would have marked the first time since twins Rich and Ron Sutter prowled the Spectrum ice in the early Spring of 1986 that two siblings made it to the Philly roster. April 15, 1986 was the exact date. Game 5 of the Patrick Division Semifinals against the underdog …

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CBA 101: Could the lockout result in additional 35+ contracts?

Last week I opened up CBA 101 to mailbag questions as I had more or less covered the critical topics with respect to the, now expired, Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Flyers Faithful’s own Marcello submitted a question. Let’s say a player signs a contract extension set to kick in during the ’13 season, when he turns 34. If there is no season and the contract does not start until he’s 35, is it now considered a 35+ contract? This is a very interesting question, and to be honest, I didn’t definitively know the answer. So I took some time to …

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A Shortened NHL Season? Hmm…

While reading a list of reasons why the NHL lockout might not be so bad (I think it was a joke; at least, I hope it was a joke), I came across something interesting – the mention that while fans are upset about the complete loss of NHL hockey, they might be happy that there would be less games if the league were to end the lockout before the entire season was lost. This idea is new to me. I’ve never once thought that the hockey season was too long. I always want more, more, more! But after posing the …

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Crashing the Crease: Home Cooking

The 2012-2013 NHL season had all the earmarks of a solid season for the league as a whole. Last season ended in fantastic fashion for the growth of the game. The LA Kings had sparked some real interest in the game out West, even bringing to light the fact that David Beckham has been a Kings fan before it was cool [again]. People who weren’t Canadian transplants were paying attention to the sport. The East Coast equivalent of L.A. was ready to see a return to the limelight, as the New York Rangers had effectively re-tooled and upgraded their roster. …

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CBA 101: Mailbag

Over the past 16 weeks I’ve covered what I believed to be the most critical aspects of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The timing worked out quite well as it seems to have coincided with the lockout (unfortunately). So rather than continue to delve into more mundane topics — for the six or so of you that don’t find them all mundane — in a CBA that is no longer relevant, I thought that it would make more sense to cease CBA 101 in its current form. However, for the foreseeable future I’d be more than happy to take any and all …

Thanks to Google Images

It’s Fargin War!

Neither the NHL’s Board of Governors, its Commissioner, nor the Players’ Association were able to come to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement by the midnight deadline. And so, the third lockout in the last 18 years has commenced, all under Gary Bettman’s watch. The following is a message, in the emotion of the moment. Directed to Bettman, the 30 owners for whom he has been a perfect tool, the Fehr brothers and all the players, stolen from Roman Troy Moronie: “You lousy cork-soakers. You have violated our farging rights. Dis somanumbatching sport was founded so that the …

GUMicerink

The one where I get angry, irrational, and devious

  This time tomorrow, the NHL lockout will be underway and there’s nothing we can do about it as fans. We can swear up and down that we’ll turn away and protest games but it does not matter what we say. Most of us will keep coming back and, now that the NHL has a longterm deal with NBC, the sport will reach a larger audience once it does return. Just think about all that pent up anxiousness and desire all coming to a head with the tease of two of the NHL’s most storied franchises, the Detroit Red Wings …

Thanks to Google Images

Quebec 1, NHLPA 0

One of the last remaining options for hockey to be played on schedule as the clock ticks down to a lockout has apparently been exhausted. After hearing a combined five hours worth of argument in one of its regional bureaus in Montreal on Friday, the Quebec Labor Board ruled in favor of the National Hockey League and the Canadiens, saying that provincial law does not make it illegal to lock out players. The decision was originally reported by RDS of Canada to have been announced some time on Saturday. It was an unprecedented and rapid development that wiped out the …

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Flyers and Penguins: A compendium of warfare

From the home office in Kalispell, Montana… The upcoming season — whenever the NHL and NHLPA decide its starting date — will mark the 45th in competition between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Since this is the hottest rivalry going for the Orange and Black at the moment, it’s only fair that we reflect upon a lifetime’s worth of competition and come up with the best of the best and the worst of the worst between these bitter Keystone foes. Top 10 regular-season Flyers-Penguins games 1.  March 22, 1984: Flyers 13, Penguins 4 – Of course it’s going to …

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Sucker

We’re just about 37 hours away from having to face a bummer of a reality — no hockey, at least not anytime soon. It’s been a summer of waiting, hoping, praying that the NHLPA and the league would reach a new CBA and the season would start on time, but it’s not happening. There should be training camp going on now, preseason games that get the fans hyped up for the real deal. But, nope. The players are home, or they’re in NHLPA meetings, and when the fans turn on the TV to catch a game, they’ll only be met …